Feral cats: your responsibility?

I’ve received a couple emails in response to Saturday’s story about the city’s new policy of fixing feral cats as part of its support of “trap neuter and return” as a way to deal with the city’s feral cat population.

Some residents, especially the elderly, want to know why it’s now their responsibility to trap, pay $10 to get the cats fixed, return them, feed them and generally keep an eye on them.

This is from Jenny, who says her mother has been trying to deal with a colony behind her house:

“All I’m asking is that SOMEONE rethink this situation. My 91 y/o mother is willing to continue feeding these cats, although it is a burden on her financially and physically, but she is a compassionate person and can’t just ignore them. But do we really expect her and others in her situation to PERSONALLY take all these wild animals to the shelter. IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Most people (most able-bodied) don’t care about feral cats and do nothing. Come to the SOUTH SIDE and check out all the strays running loose!”

This is from Ms. Margie Rodriguez-Abilene:

“We do not need or want stray cats in neighborhoods that are starving and causing problems (like urinating on A/C units, digging in yards, and getting into trash cans looking for food). Homeowners should not have to trap and pay a $10.00 fine to get the feral cats sterilized and then be asked to pick them up and release them back into their “colonies”. Someone needs to re-think the answer to the stray cat problem, as Animal Control will no longer just come out and pick up trapped cats. We have too many stray cats looking for food (starving) on the SE side.”

Jenny Burgess of the Feral Cat Coalition, which is “by default,” she said, helping the city by offering workshops on how to humanely trap these cats, says the city just can’t be expected to take on the job of managing feral cat colonies, from a cost and personnel perspective.

Cats were just being picked up and killed in the past, she points out, yet the problem never diminished. At least now, she says, the city is moving in the right direction.

I’m going to follow up by looking at what happens in other cities that have embraced trap neuter and release — is it the city’s responsibility or the citizenry’s? And in any case, has it been successsful?

If you’ve had experiences with a feral cat colony, good or bad, email me at thamilton@express-news.net